about technologies

1. Lauren Young
*

2. *
*the most important website i used this year was blogger. Blogger
was needed to create, edit and publish posts onto my blog in
order for my coursework to be submitted and marked until you
are ready to publish them for marking
*Blogger is a good website to store your posts you have created
as draft. I used blogger when writing up each of my posts and it
also allowed me to create different media types and embd them
onto my blog such as prezi presentations, slideshare
presentations, go animate presentations and powtoon
presentations.
*Blogger also notes the dates you uploaded your pages which you
are able to edit to rearrange your posts into the order you would
like.

3. Here is a print-screen of the posts in which I have created on blogger. These
all show the title of what I have created so it is easy for me to navigate
around the page.

4. this bar along the
left hand side also
allows you to look at
the statistics on your
blog such as the
people who have
viewed it and the
main location of your
page views. You are
also able to alter the
look of your blog and
have it in different set
outs to quit you. You
can also add different
widgets to your blog
to make it more
interesting.
This bar along the top of
your blog allows you to see
how many views you have
had on your blog and also
allows you to see how
many posts you have made
so far. This also gives you
an indication of how much
more you have to do
before you reach your
target or goal. As well as
this it also states when you
last published on your blog,
which is a good thing with
helping you keep up to
date with posting your
coursework.

5. *
Adobe Photoshop is an extremely powerful application that's used by many
professional photographers and designers. You can use Photoshop for almost any
kind of image editing, such as touching up photos, creating high-quality graphics,
and other things.
Photoshop allows you to open up your own images and edit them as you please,
and also add other images from somewhere else to build up a collage.

6. Below is a print screen of what photoshop looks like when you open the application.
It is blank and allows you to insert and open your own picture and also to the size
that you would lke.

7. Photoshop allows you to open your open
A new image by clicking file >> new
You then have the dropdown option of
What size you wish to have your picture.
from these options you can also choose
Standard paper sizes such as A4 and A3.

8. There is also a
toolbar down the
left hand side of
the page which
allows you to edit
your photographs
using tools such
as the pain
bucket, the brush
and pencil, the
smudge tool and
eraser tools.
There is also the
option to add
extra shapes onto
your photo using
the shape tool.
The top two tools
allow you to
select and move
your image
around the page
at ease to
navigate around.
This bar that is shown on the right
hand side of the page allows you to
move, select/deselect and edit the
layers you have created on your
page. There is a preview of the
layer shown so you are able to see
which one it is, unless you have
already edited the name of the
layer to your own preview name.
the eye feature can also be turned
off so you are able to see what your
page would look like without this
layer being included with the rest.
This section to the right allows
you to add effects to the page so
you are able to edit the images
colour, brightness and contrast
and also things like saturation.
This was useful with my magazine
pages as some of my pictures
needed altering to fit my liking.

9. *
Prezi is a software online which allows you to create slideshow-
like presentations that you are able to embed onto your blog.
these presentations can have as many slides as you please, which
allows you to create a presentation big enough for any project
you have. You can either start with a template or you can start
blank and completely make your own.
I had never used Prezi before so I was grateful to find that there
was a tutorial on the page to help me navigate my way around.

10. This is the options you have to choose from for your templates when you ask to
start a new Prezi. You also have the option to search for a template which
brings up results related to the keyword you typed into the search bar.

11. When you first begin a prezi, you are
able to insert your own text inside the
text boxes which have been provided
for you. You also are given a certain
pathway in which the presentation will
take place if you are to choose a
template. When choosing a template
you are automatically given circles as
your boxes, which you are able to
change if you would like to do so.
When you place your cursor into the text box to change the writing, you are
presented with a toolbar of options to change the text’s font, allignment, size,
colour and margins. You are also given the choice as to make the text:
bold, italic, or underlined.

12. Similarly to
Microsoft
PowerPoint, you are
able to edit the
order in which your
presentation goes
in. You are able to
make it go in a
straight line, or you
can mess up the
order to give an
interesting and
disorientated feel to
the presentation.
You are also able to
position your text
boxes to a certain
shape such as in a
straight line or also
in a circle or square
so the presentation
looks a lot more
appealing and
creative.
If you wish to edit the path of your
presentation you can switch the order of the
slides using this method. Doing this allows
you to animate the frame content and also to
drag the slides to change the path point.
Each of these options boosts the creativity of
your Prezi and helps to make it look a lot
more original.

13. Once you are done with creating
your presentation, you are able
to share this by posting the link
onto social media sites, and also
by embedding the link onto your
blog using the HTML code
provided.
After creating and saving your
presentation, it then adds it to the list
of previous and existing Prezi’s you
have made, keeping them safe and
available the next time you log in.

14. One of the good things about Prezi, is that it asks you to log in each time you
access the website. It doesn’t keep you logged in. this avoids people from
plagiarising your work, and helps you keep your work safe and secure.
You are also able to log in using different media
sites. The ones available to log into on Prezi is
‘Facebook’ and ‘LinkedIn’. Prezi will also benefit
from this as you will be asked to share your
presentations and they will also share their page.

15. *
Go animate is an online software which allows you to create slideshows
and presentations using animated characters to act out in a scene.
You are able to insert your own vocals into this presentations or choose
the voices given as examples. The voices match the words you have on
your presentation and it is acted out like a cartoon.

16. Like Prezi, Go Animate requires you to log into the website in order for you to
create a presentation. The good thing about this is all of your presentations are
kept in one place which allows you to add as many a you want and they won’t get
lost or take up space on your own hard drive or computer area. Another good thing
about this is that your files are stored wherever you log into your account.

17. When making a go
animate you are able to
select from the
templates offered to
you. These templates
all have different
scenes and characters
available which allows
you to create a
presentation to match
your theme. For
example, when creating
a marketing idea, you
would want to select
the ‘business friendly’
option rather than the
‘space citizens’ option.
This is a good option to
have as you may feel
like you want to bring
more fun and creativity
into your presentation
and want to choose a
fun theme like anime.

18. When beginning your go animate, you start with a blank scene and also nothing
on your timeline. You then have to use the tools and scene options to create your
desired scene and characters.

19. This is the option
to insert a new
background
This is the
option to insert
a character
This is the option
to insert a prop
into the scene
This is the option
to insert speech
bubbles
Below is the list of main edits Go Animate allows you to do which make up the
scene:

20. When you have chosen a character to be in your presentation, you then have the
option to change the settings of the characters to make them how you want them.
One of the first options you can change
is the actions of the character. This
allows you to change their body
language to fit it into the conversation
and you can also elect certain gestures
to emphasise their mood and feelings for
example getting your character to
point If they are giving instructions.

21. The option I then chose to use for my own go animate was the text-to-speech option
when it came to adding dialogue to my presentation. I chose this option because I
didn’t really have enough time to record my own voices and the videos that I had got
of a face to face interaction was rather poor quality and therefore it wouldn’t have
been very impressive when placed onto my go animate. When selecting this option
you also have the chance to choose the gender of your characters voice, the
nationality, and also a specific voice. This is good because if you have two characters
from the same country and that are the same gender, then you can distinguish the
sound from the voice of the character.

22. This then creates a wave
on the timeline which you
can edit at a later date.
the wave in the box
indicates how loud the
speech is and also where
the dialogue begins and
ends.
And to finish off with go animate you have
the option to export your video onto various
sites. One of the problems I came across with
this was that I don’t have a subscription and I
just had the trial for my coursework. As a
result of this I was unable to embed this onto
my blog, and I therefore had to just copy and
paste the URL.

23. *
Powtoon is also a presentation software which allows you to make a
visually satisfying presentation which has a fun animated slideshow.

24. To start with you are given a list of existing templates in which you are able to use
to make your presentation. You are also given the option of starting from scratch
which enables you to make a completely unique and original piece of work.

25. You are then presented with this page which allows you to insert
text, images, actions and also props and shapes which are also
shown down the right hand side of the page. These are the things
which make up the presentation, and you are also able to create a
number of slides to the length that you please.

26. As options to get this Powtoon onto your blog, you have the option to upload
this Powtoon presentation onto YouTube and you can then insert this YouTube
video onto your blog.